Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1887-05-02
9eli9ions department.
The Value of Time.

Never, until the golden bowl !,
broken, will we realize the true value
of this, one of the richest of all Gods
| gifts to his finite creatures. All ma.
terial success is born of a just appre.
citation of the minutes and a proper
use of them. A thorough business
man acts upon this knowledge, and
bases his money calculations upon it.
Interest is calculatedt to the day. Rail.
road time must be adjusted to the
second; a five minutes error may
| cause the loss of hundreds of lives.
Men are discharged for allowing
their chronometers any variation
whatever. Insurance companies date
their policies from a certain hour OF
the dav five minutes earlier or later
may save or lose a fortune. In the
realm of mind, we should be equally
charv of the moments. Any writer
knows if the winged thought is not
caught and changed at once, it NAV
be gone forever, or may lose the vital
force attending its birth. Mr.. Emer-
Sol acted on this truth, seized the
Thought at once, and painted it on
paper. Good is brought face to face
with us in such vital utterances.
There is a vitality in them that COM
m~unicates itself to the reader and
makes vivid impression that no mere
repetition of words can convey; in
short, there is a difference of a living
breathing spirit and a dead letter.
Our spiritual life and work should be
possessed of this vitality. How diff
ferently the precious Bible utterances
affect us from different lips, even
though the speakers are equally sim
cere The one, believing that time is
short and precious, and realizing this
belief, works with this end in view,
and no arithmetic can compute the
of his success; the other
may believe the facts, but failing to
impress himself with the value of fly
ing moments utters his belief in words
so tame that they fall powerless on
his hearers. Should a hand appear
writing in living characters on the
wall of his room, "This day thy soul
shall be required of thee" would
there be life and sound sense-the
sense of belief-in his eXpostulations !?
Would he not forget himself entirely
and hasten to the rescue of the souls
committed to his care-hasten as did
Lot from the burning cities of the
plain? positively know of a minister,
a good one, too, who, after the in
troductory exercises of Wednesday
evening prayer meetings are over,
and his remarks or address has been
given, seems to have chilled the en-
tire meeting by the slow, measured
utterances of his thoughts. The ideas
are right, the language is correct, but
there is no life-giving, electrical
force in them; the meeting has re-
ceived a check that some magnetic
soul must hasten to turn aside, or
the precious moments will be more
than lost. Queen Elizabeth realized
in her death-agony the value of mo-
ments, when she exclaimed "My
kingdom for an hour of time !" And
many another testimony could be adj
ded to this. The greatest minds, the
most shining examples of culture in
every department "a attribute their
success, in a great part, to a wise
disposition of their time. 1t come to
US but once. Morning, noon and
the daily reminders of youth, man
hood and old age each in its time,
and but once for each. Seed-time,
summer and harvest and the winter
of death. O that we might write on
each passing moment some glorious
record for eternity-to shine through
the ages.
Keep Your Friends.-People who